The Soul Stealers
by Shinammi
Summary: Just a little oneshot exploring what might be the lighter side of Link and Midna's relationship. An eerie, night time encounter results in a little prank from Link. Who knew Twilii were afraid of ghost stories?


_Re-playing the final battle in Twilight Princess and re-watching the ending cutscene  
inspired me to write more Link x Midna fanfiction. I thought, maybe something happier  
this time. So, here is my attempt at a slightly humorous story. _

**The Soul Stealers**

A black sky. A full moon. And about ten restless poes prowling the dark corners of a  
lantern cavern near Ordon. Well, there _were_ about ten restless poes prowling the dark  
corners of a lantern cavern near Ordon. Now, there was one. Just one. One rather  
small imp poe hovering above the ground and swinging its sharp scythe defensively.

One might say it seemed almost afraid. Maybe even that it shuddered in fear for a  
moment. If a ghost can feel fear, that is. But it certainly backed up a bit as its tormentor  
drew closer.

Standing before the poe, a wolf by the name of Link bared his teeth and growled. A full  
night of "ghost busting" had not done much in the way of lifting his spirits. Especially since  
he had ventured into this particular lantern cavern in search of some well desired treasure  
and instead had found it crawling with phantoms.

But this was the last of them. Link knew that a single leap was all he needed. A single  
bite around the creature's soul, ripping and tearing at the pulsing orb that contained its  
life, so to speak. He could feel it in his jaws' grip now. The poe struggling to get away, but  
helpless against the wolf's strength as he...

"Geez, can we get on with it?" An annoyed voice sounded from across the cave and was  
followed by a short yawn. Midna was getting bored.

Link sniffed, pulled out of his little daydream by his companion's voice. _Very well, _he  
thought to himself. Taking a cautious step forward, Link saw the poe raise its scythe once  
more. It remained almost motionless above him and all grew still. Then...

With a determined snarl, Link lunged at the ghost, slamming into it head first and knocking  
it to the ground. Stunned, the imp poe lay there for several seconds, collecting itself from  
the blow. But before it could rise to fight another battle, Link pounced, clamping his teeth  
firmly around the poe's soul.

A tug, a snap, and the purple-black orb came free in the wolf's mouth, glowing ominously  
between his sharp canines.Link took a step back as the ghost-like creature writhed and  
howled in agony on the ground, before suddenly becoming still. After a moment, it vanished.

Link sighed inwardly and then transferred the soul to his twilight spectator to store it away  
with his other items.

"That's the last of them. Nice work, Link." Midna smirked at her friend. With a wave of her  
hand, he began to change, and was soon no longer a wolf, but a human standing before her.

"Heh. Thanks Midna. So nice to hear a compliment from you." He laughed, slightly.

"Don't get used to it, wolf-boy. I'm just glad to finally be done in here. Let's leave before dawn  
breaks."

As she turned to leave, Link called out to her. "Hey! Wait a minute! Aren't we going to finish  
exploring the cavern? I'll bet we could find some nice shiny jewels if we looked hard enough."

Midna simply gestured with her hand for him to follow, indicating that she did not wish to  
argue and could not be persuaded to stay. Link glared in her direction and hurried to catch  
up.

Outside, dawn did seem not too far away, so Link decided it would be best to set up a place  
to stay for the night. Midna sat nearby, half asleep as she watched her companion try to  
start a fire. He was silent for a while, still a bit annoyed at having not had the chance to  
treasure hunt. At that moment, Midna spoke up.

"Sure was odd, you know. Seeing poes and imp poes in one place like that. Especially in  
such a large group. I wonder what could have caused it," she said, more to herself than to  
Link.

The Ordonian nodded, deep in thought. An idea had just come to him.

"Well, I_ might_ have a hunch as to why there were so many. But, then again, I suppose, so  
do you."

Midna glanced over at him, half interested. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Link answered. "The story."

The twilight girl looked confused. "What story?"

_Gotcha,_ Link thought. "You mean you don't know? I mean, everyone from here to Faron Woods  
remembers it." He fought to keep from snickering as Midna drew up in barely hidden curiousity.  
She seemed to want him to go on, so he did.

"You see, that particular lantern cavern has always been haunted by poes. But in the beginning,  
there were only three. And the people of surrounding villages feared them and kept their  
distance, for many believed that the ghosts resided there, just waiting for an unlucky person  
to wander by. Then, they would _steal_ the unfortunate person's_ soul_!"

"That's ridiculous!" Midna exclaimed.

Link smirked. "Ah, but that's just the attitude that group of traveler's had. And they were never  
heard from again. You see, that is how the poes grew in number. Any skeptical human brave  
enough to venture into the cavern was taken by an evil ghost.Their human souls were ripped  
out and they became like the poes themselves!"

Midna stared at him for a few moments. "That's your theory? _That_ is your theory? Please,  
Link! That's nothing more than a childish ghost story!"

Link shrugged.

"I mean, I can't believe you actually listen to that nonsense. It's ridiculous. Now, I'm going to  
sleep." With that she turned over and didn't say another word.

"Suit yourself." Link answered. He lay on his back and stared up at the sky and the thousands  
of glittering stars. If there were any poes out there, they wouldn't be in that area. His exhaustion  
from the earlier battle proved that, and he soon found himself drifting to sleep.

* * *

The sky was black as coal and dawn would soon be approaching, when Link felt movement  
beside him. Something was shifting against his side and had woken him.

Turning his head, he was met with quite a surprise.

"Midna?! What on earth are you doing?"

Midna looked up, startled. She hadn't realized Link was awake. "U-umm, I just feel like sleeping  
over here tonight." she stammered.

Link was still in a slight state of shock. "Why?"

"No reason. I just feel like it, okay?" She laid her head down and closed her eyes, ending the  
discussion.

"Um, okay." Link said laying down as well. _Weird. My story must have worked._ he thought.

"Can you move over a little? Your sword is about two centimeters from gouging my eye out."

"Only if you'll turn over. You're breathing in my face!"

"Yeah? Well maybe _you_ should turn over!"

"No, you!"

The resulting argument continued into the night. Midna denied being afraid of Link's little tale,  
but he knew better. Although, now he kind of regretted making it up. Oh well. At least there  
were no poes around to eat their souls!

* * *

_Heh, picturing that last scene in my mind makes me giggle. Poor Link! I'll bet he won't try  
pulling that stunt again, eh?_


End file.
